Electronic components are often permanently mounted and operated within sliding drawers or racks of cabinet assemblies. Electrical conductors extend from some point on the drawers to a junction on the cabinet structure and the drawers are regularly pulled out for inspection, operation and maintenance of the electronic equipment contained therein. The cables to each drawer must be long enough to permit the drawer to be opened a sufficient amount for manually connecting or disconnecting the connector plug and for repair, test, modification or other purpose. This necessary length of the cable results in a surplus length of cable when the drawer is fully closed. It is necessary to hold, support and protect cables during drawer insertion to allow free movement of the drawer, to prevent damage to the cable, and to prevent the cable from interfering with electronic components and adjacent drawers.
Conventional cable carrier/retractor mechanisms typically require the cable to be fastened to the carrier along its length by a plurality of mechanical retaining devices, such as cable ties. To add or remove a cable it is necessary to remove or disassemble the fasteners.
Other previous means of cable carrying/retraction accordion out from the rear of the cabinet and therefore occupy excessive space and do not allow optimum insertion depth of the drawer.
Therefore it is desirable to have a cable carrier/retractor that will hold, support, and protect cables while at the same time allowed for addition and removal of cables without disassembly of any of the mechanism.
It is further desirable that such mechanism retract to the rear of the cabinet to allow for the greatest insertion depth of an equipment drawer.